Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Outer Mongolia, June 2011


Ulaanbaatar or Ulan Batar or UB City
The middle of June we took a month-long trip to Mongolia and China, traveling with Overseas Adventure Travel. After a night in Beijing, we flew north to Ulan Batar (Ulaanbaatar or UB City), the capital of Outer Mongolia.

Genghis Khan
 Mongolia is a landlocked country with Russia on its north and China to the south, east and west. Mongolians are proud people with their history dating back to Genghis Khan, who conquered vast lands all the way to Europe.

Russia controlled Mongolia from the 1920s to the late 1990s when the Soviet Union fell apart. At that time Mongolia achieved its independence and became a democratic republic. We immediately saw the Russian influence in the stark buildings and deteriorating infrastructure.

We spent three days touring Ulan Batar, a city that holds 1.3 million of the country’s 1.7 million people. This visit included the central Sukhbaatar Square and the large statue of Genghis Khan, the National History Museum, a Buddhist monastery and the Fine Arts Museum.
 
Three Camel Lodge
We took a 2 ½ hour flight south into the Gobi Desert. When we arrived we were met by two drivers and older model Russian vans, which were our transportation for two days. It was a long drive to the “Three Camel Lodge” where we spent one night in a gere (the Russian name for them is a Yurt).  They were surprisingly colorful and comfortable inside although it was a long trek to the bathroom and shower facilities in the middle of a very windy night.

The next day we drove a long way on gravel roads, making two stops. The first was at the “Flaming Cliffs” where, in 1922 a team from the US discovered the first nest of petrified dinosaur eggs. There were also many full skeletons found in this area.



Camel Breeding
The second stop was to visit a family that made its living breeding camels. We watched them milking and had a chance to taste some products made from the milk. After visiting with the family in their gere, those of us who wanted rode the camels out into the dunes, led by members of the family.

We returned to the lodge for lunch and then drove back to the airport. This was a unique experience and the photo ops with the little camels were great.
 
Back in Ulan Batar we were met at the airport by our bus and driver who had with him our big luggage, which we didn’t take to the desert. There was another long drive on bad roads to Khankhar-Uul Camp in the northern mountains. This camp of geres sits tight up against the red rock mountains of Khogno Khaan. After a brief time to settle in we went to visit Ovgon monastery used by the local people and the ruins of a much older monastery destroyed by the Russians. The geres at this camp were not as luxurious as the first, but the bathrooms were closer and the food was good.

The second day we drove to an old monastery (a UNESCO site), which the Russians did not destroy, as planned, when the Mongolian people promised to turn it into a museum. This was in Kharkhorin, the city Genghis Khan had planned as the capital of his empire. 

On the way back to camp we stopped to visit a family that raised horses. Again we were welcomed into their home (gere) and had a chance to find out what their life was like. They were actually getting ready to move to another location the next day in search of better grazing land for the horses. There were three generations living together and the grandfather was smitten with me – and my camera. Again, there was a chance to ride a horse, which I did.

On the long drives from place to place we frequently would come across herds of sheep, goats, yaks and horses. They were tended and herded by both men and women on horseback.

The next morning we drove back to Ulan Batar. We stopped along the way at the Khustain Nuruu National Park to see a herd of wild Takhi horses; rare because they had almost become extinct. Some were protected in zoos and then brought back to Mongolia in 1992. The Takhi has a bigger head and shorter legs than a regular horse. We were fortunate to see one up close.

We arrived in UB City, as they call their capital, late in the afternoon, and had time to freshen up before the traditional “Farewell Dinner. The evening’s entertainment was a small group of musicians that played traditional instruments; a Morin Khuur or horse-head-violin which is played with a bow, a flute, and a Yatga or half-tube zither with a movable bridge and twelve strings which are plucked. Their performance included singing and an exhibition by a young girl contortionist. Very interesting.

After some free time the next morning we said farewell to Ganboatar Tsererdorj “Ganbo,” our guide, and flew back to Beijing where we were greeted by Qu Yi “Sally,” our guide for the three weeks in China. Mongolia was fascinating, the people delightful, and we were glad we had the chance to visit their vast country.
 

That's it for now. Grace and Paul

Spring in Green Valley, 2011


The end of March found us back in Green Valley, Arizona for our spring visit. Our nine weeks were filled with many activities. Grace taught six Mac classes at the Camera Club. Preparation for these classes took a lot of her time.

The cactus flowers were particularly beautiful this spring giving many opportunities for photography. Sometimes even with our new iPhones, which take amazingly good pictures some times.

Our friend Melanie came to visit for a couple weeks. This gave us the excuse to visit some of the local sites we save for company. We visited the Desert Museum in the early morning when the animals were out and active, and it wasn’t too hot. The humming birds were interesting and there were some building and sitting on their nests.

It had been a long time since we had visited the HUGE copper mine close to Green Valley. With the price of copper high, the mine was then in full operation and the tailing ponds spread out all along the west side of us. Try looking at a Google Maps of the area and you will be amazed at the size of the ponds that support the mines.

We took Melanie to visit Katchner Caverns, the most spectacular caves I have ever seen. Visit this site to get the whole story about how they were discovered and developed so that people can visit without damaging them. http://azstateparks.com/parks/kaca/

One day we took a field trip to visit the University of Arizona campus on a quest to find the sorority house Melanie’s mother joined. All we had to go on was a picture she had found among her mothers things. The people in the archives section of the library were very helpful and in looking at the yearbooks from the appropriate years we found a picture that matched. They gave us an address and we actually found the sorority building. This filled in a very interesting piece of Melanie’s family history.

We also enjoyed an all too short day visit with our friends Jim and Diane from Denver. They stopped by on their RV trip around the area. We had a lot of fun reminiscing about out trips to South Georgia and the Baja on photo expeditions. We hope there will be other trips together in the future.
San Xavier Mission south of  Tucson
A stay in Green Valley would not be complete without seeing at least one play at the Gaslight Theater (http://www.thegaslighttheatre.com/) where they do Melodramas. It is fun to booo the villain and cheer the hero. By late May the weather was turning quite warm so we headed back home.
 

That's it for now. Grace and Paul